Adventures in Kara-Tur 5e Homebrew

A complex Oriental Adventures setting, complete with a main quest made by myself.

Cham Fau: the Lantern Festival & Raid on Kwang-Ying Temple

The morning of the Lantern Festival

The party wakes up and hangs around town until the meeting at the guard house. Rumple gets her new clothes from the tailor, and Raagash goes to the apothecary exchanging herbs for a 40% off voucher for next purchase.

5pm. Party: They arrive at the festival as the booths and whatnot set up. The party splits into 2 sections. Section 1: Rumple, Thibbledroop, Raagash. Section 2: Clinka, Kabuki, Mei. They settle in and notice certain interesting things to check out.

5-6pm. Section 1: Rumple & Thibbledroop go to the Trigrams booth and have their fortunes divined by the old shaman woman. Raagash checks out the illusion mages, combining his drow magic dancing lights with a similar illusion. The mage sends him to their friend to learn Smoke Ladder, he tries but does not seem to have the magic necessary to learn it.
Raagash heads to the stage area and overhears the sing-song girl Lily, from the Jade Dragon entertainment house in Fu Te, discussing with some other girls about recent ghoul sightings near her house. Raagash moves over and successfully strikes up conversation about what he heard. She tells him that while she hasn’t seen any there have been rumors, and whether they are ghouls or just some menacing people it was enough to worry her since she often walks home alone at night. She says that she’s sure the Magistrate and Advisor Kao will handle it though.

5-6pm. Section 2: Clinka goes to the Feng Shui divination and pays the Master to learn how to practice Feng Shui. After about 30 min of learning and repeating the incantations he successfully learns the Feng Shui divination spell.
Kabuki heads over to a booth with colourful masks. He looks them over but decides to ask the apparent crafter and seller if he has anything of higher quality as he would really like to have such a mask. The man says that traditionally the red phoenix mask is most popular during the Lantern Festival, he does in fact have one mask with him that he made for a performance at last years festival. He offers to sell him an ornate red phoenix mask with feathers for 1GP and Kabuki buys it and puts it in is bag.
Kabuki then notices the young man from the Shen Clan that he followed before. He watches him sit down with an older woman and slip her a pouch, they both have the same pin with a yellow stone. After a brief exchange, the 2 get up and walk away into the crowd. Kabuki dons his new mask and follows the man to a table where he joins other young and middle aged men. He doesn’t overhear anything that seems important, but does notice that one of the older men in the group also wears that same pin.

6-7pm. Section 1: Rumple heads over to the illusion mages and watches one controlling a soaring phoenix for a bit, she is quite impressed and tips very generously, the mage pauses to thank her and asks if she too is a mage. When rumple confirms he sends her to the Smoke Ladder Mage, they try to teach Rumple the spell and she comes very close but just can’t seem to get the hang of it. The mage suggests that perhaps it doesn’t align with her school of magics.
Following that, she moves to the dancing red panda next to the mages. The panda has a collar of bells with a name tag reading “Pabu”. The panda is very cute and she tries to pet it, the man says that Pabu seems to like her. Thibbledroop sees this from the nearby sake stand where he’s finishing off a bottle and heads over. He becomes infactuated with the cute furry creature and reaches out to pet it. Pabu chitters happily putting his paws on Thibbledroops chest and sniffing him. The man says that Pabu seems to really like him, it’s most unusual for him to be so excited over a stranger. Thibbledroop awkwardly bargains to purchase Pabu with Rumples help, and talks the man into selling him for 20GP.
Raagash goes to the Trigrams booth and has his fortune divined. He comes out and continues patroling around and sees 2 men talking excitedly, one seems to be wearing the happi of the Wang Ho school the other is a traveler wearing a black scarf. He stealthily moves closer to hear them, the local says “You can’t bribe or blackmail an honorable master of the Wang Ho Lightning Fist, you won’t succeed in this!” the one with the scarf says “You had better have made the right decision by morning, for the sake of your sister. I’ll be waiting at the Wa Ko Inn at 10.” Raagash finds one of the guards and relays the information that someone seems to be blackmailing a wang ho student and may have kidnapped his sister.

6-7pm. Section 2: Clinka and Kabuki meet up with Mei who is having tea with a friend. Kabuki asks if either of them know anything about the yellow pins meaning, they say that members of the Shen Clan seem to wear them but they don’t know the meaning.
Clinka heads over to the Marvelous Moving House of Trinkets. Inside it seems much larger and a korobokuru shopkeep welcomes him. They discuss a trade and the shopkeep agrees to trade the lightning stone for a clockwork toy of a frog.
As Clinka works on his clockwork frog, Kabuki comes into the shop as well. He has a look at some items then attempts to charm the shopkeep, but this korobokuru is very wise and knowledgable of magic, the charm spell fails. Now upset, the shopkeep demands to know why Kabuki tried to charm him. Rather than explain Kabuki moves to cast entangle around the shopkeep, however Clinka sees this and grabs his arms down before he can perform the spell. Displeased about his home being disrespected in such a way, the shopkeep demands they either give a very good explaination, or both leave NOW. Clinka stays behind a moment to apologize.
Kabuki steps out of the house of trinkets and begins patrolling again, he overhears 2 wealthy women talking about sightings of ghouls in Fu Te. They whisper quietly they don’t know how Advisor Kao can stand living so near the cemetery. The first woman says “He can’t possibly have something to do with those nasty rumors, right?” the second woman hushes her saying “Of course not! Don’t say such things in public!”

7pm. Party: The 2 groups rejoin as the lantern lighting begins around a small stage. They enjoy the fireworks and lanterns floating into the sky. Rumple and Thibbledroop light a lantern, gaining inspiration.

8-8:30pm. Party: Screams and the sound of battle break out as the White Tiger monks attack the temple of Kwang-Ying the Compassionate. The adventurers run with the downtown guards to aid the Kwang-Ying monks and engage in battle. after many monks and both Elites are defeated the White Tiger Master calls for a retreat. The adventurers manage to capture another 3 monks as they flee. The guard Captain thanks them and asks them to head to their lodging so the guards can clean up; they have arrests to make, wounded to heal, and a big mess to organize before they can end their night. He tells the party he will send word for them in the morning when the Magistrate is able to properly thank them.

Cham Fau: nightmares and investigation

Party (minus Kabuki) 5-6pm. The monks leave to go to the temple, Raagash and Thibledroop loot around while Rumple distracts the monks. Clinker convinces the librarian monk to show him the books in the restricted section, He shows him The Book of Heaven Vol.1 and explains li and reads him a passage.

Party 6-9pm. Travel back to the magistrates, have a brief chat about what they learned (nothing apparently), and leave back to the Lucky Dragon.

The party and Kabuki rejoin at the Lucky Dragon Inn, swap information, and go to sleep.

12-12:30. Kabuki falls into a nightmare and is attacked very surprisingly and viciously by a Bakemono, it claws him to death in a sudden charge, and he wakes up feeling terrified and exhausted. Kabuki goes from 14max HP to 10. He goes back to sleep.
Rumple has the same nightmare as Kabuki, but manages to run from it for a while before giving up. It claws and bites her to shreds and she wakes up. Rumple goes from_ 31 max HP to 16._ She goes back to sleep
Raagash then has the same nightmare, he spots the Bakemono first and climbs up a tree. The Bakemono spots him and eventually tears the tree down. They fight and Raagash dies and he wakes up. Raagash goes from 18 max HP to 10. He wakes everyone up, and asks them about the weird nightmare.
They all go back to sleep getting a long rest.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The party gets up and heads into the shopping district.

Party (minus Rumple) 9-10am. Go to Kwang- Ying Temple to check it out. They find a small temple with a garden and dojo attached in the back. Clinker questions a priestess until she runs away, Kabuki looks through the rooms but doesn’t take anything. They decide to come back later.

Rumple 10-11. Goes to the doctor and gets an examination. He says she’s fine but looks like she needs rest. He suggests a good meal and sleep.

Raagash and Clinker 10-11am. Go to the guard house and introduce themselves to a the Captain. They exchange iformation and he says they will be provided armor, weapons, and a healing potion at 4pm when they meet tomorrow.
*
Thibbledroop, Kabuki, Mei* 10-11am. Go to the Seven Strapping Sons Tavern for a drink and lunch. Kabuki offers 5GP to anyone who can defeat Thibbledroop in a fight, but Thibbledroop doesn’t understand and seems unwilling to fight so nobody goes through with it. Kabuki then offers 10GP for someone to beat Thibbledroop, a guy finally provokes him into a fight by taking his brandy from him hand, and Thibbledroop promptly shield smashes his face until he spits out a tooth.

Rumple, Raagash, and Clinker 11am-12pm. Go to the Apothecary. Rumple asks about her weird dream and if there’s something to do about her exhaustion, he suggest a miracle elixir 30GP, she declines. Clinker strikes a deal for 40% off next purchase if they collect some herbs for him, he finds out he’s open from 10-6. They head back to the Lucky Dragon.

Thibbledroop, Kabuki, Mei 11-12pm. Thibbledroop decides it’s time to leave and heads back to the Lucky Dragon Inn. Mei and Kabuki stay and kabuki drinks a Lot of plum brandy then they head back too.

12pm-1pm. The party meets up at the Inn, swaps info, then Rumple and Kabuki decide to go to sleep.

Clinker and Thibbledroop 1-2pm. Go back to the temple. They go back to the dojo and see the woman that hit Thibbledroop with her Bo staff during the scuffle before. The strike up conversation with her (as best they can) and warn her about the White Tiger monks. They head back to the Lucky Dragon.

Raagash and Mei 1-5pm. They “borrow” Rumple’s horse and ride to the Forest of Shen Hua to collect the herbs. With Guidance and Mei’s assistance the manage to find all the herbs. they head back to the Inn.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.

The party gets up and has breakfast at the inn before heading back towards the tailor. leave 8am.

8-8:30am. party goes to the House of Fo Wok the Tailor; Rumple orders custom silk clothing in the Shou noble style, Thibbledroop gets a straw hat, Eddy sells her a music box.

8:30-9 am. party goes past Shen Clan warehouse on their way out of downtown and notice their is a considerable amount of people in wealthier clothing milling around the area. They try to walk down to the warehouse but are stopped by 2 young men who ask if they need help with something, they question the men but don’t learn much. Kabuki breaks off and turns into a cat staying behind to investigate, the rest of the party moves on.

Party 9am – 1pm. Traveling to Fu Te, no incidents.Cat Kabuki 9-10am. Makes it onto the windowsill of the warehouse and sees a group of middle-aged to elderly men sitting at a large table seemingly having a meeting. They say that the training of the novices need to be sped up so that they can move forward with their plans while the Magistrate is still new and the timing causes less resistance. The Shuii Clan is still resisting them and they must hurry to build a show of force and pressure them harder while they still have more freedom to move around as they wish uninterrupted.
The young man the party questioned knocks on the door and informs the men that there was adventurers here patrolling for the magistrate and they ought to clear out as to avoid suspicion. Everyone does so and Kabuki tails the young guy.

Cat Kabuki 11am – 1pm. Follows man while he does errands, nothing of note happens.
*
Party* 1-1:30pm. Rumple and Eddy put on a sales pitch performance trying to sell the firestarter, a couple is interested, but the charm is broken when eddy trip and falls into her, but manages to apologize profoundly and salvage it. He has a standing invitation to the Tsu family home so they can potentially commission some trinkets.Cat Kabuki 1-2pm. The man stops at the Wa Ko Inn for lunch. He meets with 2 other young people. Kabuki climbs in through a window to try and get closer but as he nears the table a little girl pops up in front of him and grabs him “kitty!!”, he scratches her face and she throw him down shooing him outside with a broom. Kabuki finds another way back in and sets up to listen to the man but the conversation seems mostly over, they say they will meet at 7pm and leave.

Party 1:30-2 pm. Find a tea house and go inside to check it out, except for Thibbledroop who the won’t allow in because he’s in rags, he tries to intimidate them but the don’t understand him so it’s pretty useless. Inside they get some expensive lunch and listen to music. Eddy then decides to run around and blow all the lights out, so Raagash leaves and takes Thibbledroops food out to him. Once the lights are out he makes a show of lighting one again, then says the rest of the lights will cost money so he gets thrown out, Rumple stays and tries to convince a bus boy relighting the lamps to buy it but he’s too poor and she gives up and leaves too.

Cat Kabuki 2-7pm. The man goes and does more errand then returns home and stays there.

Party 2-3pm. They decide to go to see the magistrate and discuss the rival monk situation, so they travel to his compound.

Party 3-4pm. Meet with the Magistrate rather briefly and swap info. He rewards their hard work and initiative in coming to speak with him by adding an extra 5GP to their pay. He asks that they help the town guards deal with the apparent raid on the temple and they agree. The party asks to go to the White Tiger Monastery so the magistrate provides transportation hoping they will uncover information while there.
They travel to the Monastery by wagon without incident and are welcomed to share in the temple and knowledge when they arrive.

Party 4-5pm. Thibbledroop has Rumple arrange for him to spar with the novice monk the Master is training. He beats the first one rather handily and Mei Kuei heals them afterwards. Seeing this a second student challenges him the match is very close with them both being bruised and bloodied at the end but Thibbledroop is the victor earning his opponents respect and she give a small bow in recognition.
At the same time, Eddy Sahn and Raagash use the library where an elder monk says they are most welcome to any of the knowledge in the open sections of the library. Eddy studies weapons and learns a secret technique to making charged weapons, and Raagash studies the kung-fu of white tiger monks and learns their strengths and weaknesses giving him info and advtg against base tiger monks.Cat Kabuki 7-8pm. The man finally heads to the meeting and Kabuki follows him to a second, smaller warehouse of the Shen Clan. Sitting in the window he discovers that this is a secret dojo for the Yellow Hand fighters and the warehouse appears to be a cover. There are about 20-25 students in the warehouse being instructed by an elder. Kabuki creeps in through the window to where they left their over shirts and manages to make off with a coin purse as well as his valuable info.

Cham Fau: Monk quarrel in downtown

Left from the Magistrates and were ambushed on the road by a small group of goblin rats trying to rob the wagon. Defeated 2 goblin rats, the other 2 shape shifted into rats and fled – dropped loot.

Arrived at the Lucky Dragon Inn and set up lodging.

Head into downtown market area and did some shopping; acquired an old ornate shield, some high quality daggers.

On the way to tailor ran into rival monks arguing. The argument escalated and 2 white tiger monks fought 3 Kwang-Ying monks 1 v 1. The party stepped in and through a series of grappling, tripping, and many attempts at persuasion and intimidation pacified the monks.

The white tiger monks left, muttering about how they would be back after the Lantern Festival as their Abbot had promised them.

The Magistrate welcome you to Cham Fau

The Party arrive in Cham Fau, a river valley fishing town in Kao Shan province, Shou-lung.

Mei Kuei Chu meets the party and escorts them to the magistrates compound. They settle in the guest house living room before meeting with Li Sung Ming.

Over Dinner they meet his wife; the lovely daughter of Master Wang Ho, and are filled in on current affairs in Cham Fau:

The annual kung-fu tournament at the Fortress of General Tsuo is next week

the famed and respected Wang Ho school may be being targeting by rival schools hoping to eliminate them as competition

there is an ongoing conflict between the approved White Tiger Monastary and the “rebel” monks of the Temple of Kwang-Ying

the tensions between the 2 monastic orders are escalating and they have taken to disruptive street fights of late

He offers 10 GP/ person if they can patrol and stop any fighting while they stay in Cham Fau, as well as food and lodging at the Lucky Dragon Inn. The party accepts and receives 5 GP up front.
He informs the adventurers that the current Emperor has many projects and contracts upon to proven adventurers in the region, as well as other opportunities within Cham Fau, which he can begin offering them once he has tested their ability.

They go back to the guest house to go to bed. Raagash decides to get up and snoop investigate the compound and makes his way to Sung Ming’s House. He easily and stealthily climbs up unto the roof and finds a window to what he believes is a study, trys to open the window and slips slaming the window open with a bang, then ungracefully clambers down again. The guards come out to check it out and he runs into a tree branch while trying to stealth away. The guard sees him but Raagash somewhat convinces him he was just out walking the grounds because he enjoys the night and returns to the guest quarters.